February was third coldest in Malta since 1923

Malta Airport MetOffice says February 2012 was the third coldest February since 1923 with more than twice the average rainfall.

The Malta Airport MetOffice said this was the third coldest February since 1923 with an average maximum temperature of 13°C and an average minimum temperature of 7.5°C. Both were below the climate norm of 15.5°C and 9.3°C respectively. The highest recorded temperature for February was 15.9°C on the 3rd and lowest was 3.5°C on the 14th.

Last month was also colder than the climate norm with a mean temperature of 10.2°C which is 2.2°C lower than the norm of 12.4°C.

The MIA recorded a total of 132.6mm of rain for February which is more than double the climate norm of 61.3mm for the month. The rainiest day was 21 February with a total of 24.2mm of rain. The highest rainfall ever recorded for February since 1947 was in 1965 with 187.9mm.

The average wind speed for February was 9.4 knots which was less than the climate norm of 10.3 knots. On the 6th a gust of 50 knots from the Northwest by West direction and the most frequent direction for February was from the west-northwest direction.

With an average of 6 hours 36 minutes of bright sunshine, February was 30 minutes brighter than the norm of 6 hours 6 minutes. The dullest day was on the 21st when there were no hours of bright sunshine while the brightest were recorded on 28th and 29th with 10 hours 48minutes.

The relative humidity of 74%, this month was 5% less humid than the climate norm of 79%.

The average sea temperature was 15.4°C which is 0.7°C higher than the climate norm of 14.7°C for February.